I accept your apology for attributing that stupid belief to me.
The value of reading the lives of saints is that saints give evidence that God’s grace is capable of making people into truly holy people, filled with charity.
“Reformed” theology, on the other hand, holds that grace does nothing to us. It does not make us holy. All that happens is that God LIES about us to himself, and lets us into heaven.
This is the fundamental reason Protestantism denies the ability of the saints to intercede for us: Protestantism denies that grace actually transforms people, filling them with charity—which is the form of God.
Even more fundamentally, Protestantism does not take the Incarnation seriously. To Protestants, God’s revelation is primarily verbal. What Jesus left behind in the world is primarily words, written down. Our salvation consists of God’s pronouncing words over us, fictitious words judging us as “justified.”
The Catholic Church teaches, on the other hand, that the Word became Flesh. His primordial “legacy” to us is his BODY on earth, the Church. In the Church, the written word came to be. The Church, through the Sacraments, makes Christ still present on earth, and their purpose is to cause REAL transformation, divinizing us, by making us participants in the divine nature—charity—the very form of God.
Protestantism does not take the Incarnation seriously. It does not believe in REAL effects of the Incarnation. It does not believe that the Incarnation transforms US. Protestantism is about God pretending that we are no longer sinners, even though all our actions are sins.
This is why so many Protestants deride the saints as “dead people.” Really? There is no eternal life?
“The Church, through the Sacraments, makes Christ still present on earth, and their purpose is to cause REAL transformation, divinizing us, by making us participants in the divine nature—charity—the very form of God.”
This is your belief, but is false.
Christ is present in the life of every single believer 24/7.
There are no sacraments that transform. HE transforms as He lives His life through us.
“”He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” - Christ
In Christ we have redemption.
In Christ we have a new nature that is sinless.
In Christ we are transformed by HIM as we abide in HIM.
Sorry. I know it is important to you and that you devoted your life to becoming a priest in that denomination. What you right reflects what you were taught. Not what the Scriptures teach.
Scripture teaches that all believers are saints.
>>“Reformed” theology, on the other hand, holds that grace does nothing to us. It does not make us holy.<<
Please show documentation for that statement.
>>What Jesus left behind in the world is primarily words, written down<<
Protestant believe as Jesus said that when He went to Heaven He would send the Holy Spirit to indwell all believers.
>>The Church, through the Sacraments, makes Christ still present on earth<<
On the other hand Jesus said:
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
No Catholic Church needed.
>>Protestantism is about God pretending that we are no longer sinners, even though all our actions are sins.<<
Protestants believe that our sins have been forgiven and Christ has imputed His righteousness to us.
>>This is why so many Protestants deride the saints as “dead people.”<<
Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
Faith comes from hearing God's Word. While reading about others might be entertaining, maybe even sometimes edifying, why not spend the majority of time in fellowship with the Living Word - you cannot separate Jesus from the Word. Spend time in God's Word and you just might stop trying to become what God has already made you to be. (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 119, Isaiah 55:11, Matthew 4:4, 7:24-27, Luke 8:9-18, Romans 10:17, 2 Timothy 3:15-17)
“Reformed” theology, on the other hand, holds that grace does nothing to us. It does not make us holy. All that happens is that God LIES about us to himself, and lets us into heaven.
Do you even know what Grace really is? It sure doesn't sound like it. If you read God's Word a little more, the revelation will come, and you will understand the depth of God's Love. You will never understand it in your head until it is first revealed to your spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:6-16, Ephesians 1 & 2)
This is the fundamental reason Protestantism denies the ability of the saints to intercede for us: Protestantism denies that grace actually transforms people, filling them with charity—which is the form of God.
Why do I need saints? I am child of God, led by the Holy Spirit that dwells IN me. I am seated in Heavenly Places, and complete IN CHRIST. What more could some "saint" do for me who no longer has a body, therefore no authority on earth? Let the elevator go to the top. (Romans 8, Ephesians 2, Colossians 2)
Even more fundamentally, Protestantism does not take the Incarnation seriously. To Protestants, God’s revelation is primarily verbal. What Jesus left behind in the world is primarily words, written down. Our salvation consists of God’s pronouncing words over us, fictitious words judging us as “justified.”
Why is the PHYSICAL world more real to you and Rome than the SPIRITUAL WORLD? Jesus came, died, was resurrected, and is now seated at the right hand of God. He provided the Holy Spirit to dwell inside all who BELIEVE. How do we believe? Let's ask the first "pope"?
1 Peter 1:23 (KJV) - 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
What about Jesus?
John 3:3-8 (KJV) - 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
I don't think Jesus was talking about physical water in the above. But just in case you attended one of those theological cemeteries...
John 4:13-14 (KJV) - 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Ephesians 5:25-27 (KJV) - 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Let's examine one of many key passages from Paul, who was the apostle to the Gentiles, wrote 2/3 of the NT, and was given the responsibility of unveiling the Mystery of the Body of Christ.
Romans 10:8-12 (KJV) - 8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
The Catholic Church teaches, on the other hand, that the Word became Flesh. His primordial “legacy” to us is his BODY on earth, the Church. In the Church, the written word came to be. The Church, through the Sacraments, makes Christ still present on earth, and their purpose is to cause REAL transformation, divinizing us, by making us participants in the divine nature—charity—the very form of God.
Look at your paragraph, its the flesh, the physical world, your senses, everything revolves on what YOU DO, not what God HAS DONE. Its exactly what has doomed mankind from the very beginning, ignoring God's Word and turning to man's own methods. Look at Cain & Abel, one brother provided a sacrifice by faith - it was accepted. One gave fruit from the cursed ground and it was rejected. That is religion in a nutshell, doing things their own way.
You want to do good works? That is noble. Want to be 100x more effective, let the Holy Spirit guide you and the Anointing flow through you. In other words - imitate Jesus, not the religious. (2 Corinthians 9:8, Ephesians 5:1-2)
The Bible, God's Word, is NOT the invention of man, or any religious organization. Of all Rome's claims that one is the most egregious, attempting to subordinate God's Word under some man-made religion. (1 Corinthians 2:12-16, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:16-21)
Oh, and don't forget, I am ALIVE with Christ. God made the decision to save me long before sin even entered the world. Its in the Book. (Ephesians 2)
Ephesians 1:3-14 (KJV) - 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; 8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: 10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Protestantism does not take the Incarnation seriously. It does not believe in REAL effects of the Incarnation. It does not believe that the Incarnation transforms US. Protestantism is about God pretending that we are no longer sinners, even though all our actions are sins.
Satan's greatest weapon is religion. Nothing blinds folks faster to the simple Truth of God's Word than the rudiments of the world, and the reasoning of theologians. Again, READ GOD'S WORD.
Matthew 15:16-20 (KJV) - 16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? 17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. (see also Mark 7:18-23)
John 4:23-24 (KJV) - 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
John 6:63 (KJV) - 63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
John 17:14-19 (KJV) - 14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
BELIEVERS are COMPLETE in Christ.
Colossians 2:6-10 (KJV) - 6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
Look up, not at religion.
Colossians 2:16-23 (KJV) - 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. 18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. 20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
Honestly, what could religion do for the child of God? Its so sad that folks will cling to anything other than Jesus.
Colossians 3:1-4 (KJV) - 1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Great post
This post just shows you are ignorant of "reformed" theology...